'Sherlock': PBS brings a classic character into the 21st century

PBSBenedict Cumberbatch, left, and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson.

Here is a challenge that even the ingenious Sherlock Holmes might find a tad baffling. How do you lift literature's best-known detective from his 19th-century origins and transport him -- lock, stock and neuroses -- to modern-day London?

The mystery is solved in brilliant fashion, not by fellows named Holmes and Watson, but Moffat and Gatiss. Having penned stories for another iconic character, "Doctor Who," writing partners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are giddily time-tripping Holmes into the 21st century with a series of three stylish "Sherlock" movies starting tonight on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery!"

Holmes may or may not be the character most often portrayed in movies and on television. There are some who believe the title belongs to Count Dracula.

Holmes has been endlessly re-imagined and reinterpreted. And as interpretations go, it would be difficult to imagine something more exhilarating, more clever, more fun than "Sherlock."

How does Holmes fare in a world of high-tech forensics, DNA testing and instant communication? He's still insufferably shrewd. He's still wonderfully quirky. And he's still the detective against whom all clue-chasing characters must be measured.

Purists who greatly and rightly prized the mid-1980s to mid-'90s "Mystery!" installments with Jeremy Brett as Holmes will be tempted to alter the classic line to, "The game is askew."

This is not your great-grandfather's Sherlock Holmes. That would be William Gillette, the stage star who became the first actor known for playing Arthur Conan Doyle's detective.

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Masterpiece Mystery!

What: Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman star in "Sherlock," a series of three movies that bring the Sherlock Holmes stories into the 21st century.

This is not Basil Rathbone, who played the part in the 1930s and '40s on film and radio. And this certainly is not Brett.

But it's worth pointing out that Gillette toured a play in which Holmes got married (with Conan Doyle's permission), Rathbone played Holmes fighting the Nazis during World War II, and, most recently, Robert Downey Jr. gave us Holmes as an action hero.

Deviation and revisionism are nothing new when it comes to Holmes and Watson. Strict adherence to the canon is the exception. Look behind all the gadgetry and technology on display in "Sherlock," and you'll discover an incarnation true to the spirit of Conan Doyle's stories.

"You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive," Holmes remarked upon meeting Watson in the original 1887 novel, "A Study in Scarlet." A variation on this line plays with almost eerie resonance 123 years later.

John H. Watson is an Army doctor wounded in Afghanistan. Holmes deduces this by merely glancing at him. That worked in 1887, and it works in 2010.

The Holmes of "Sherlock" is played at the edge of sanity and genius by the tall, wavy-haired and angular Benedict Cumberbatch. No less compelling and fascinating is Martin Freeman's portrayal of Watson, who, at a psychiatrist's urging, is chronicling his recovery on a blog.

While concerned about his own mental state, this Watson also has questions about the mind lurking behind the eaglelike eyes of his new acquaintance. When a London police investigator refers to Holmes as a psychopath, he gleefully fires back, "I am a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research."

This easily bored Holmes is drawn to the danger as much as the challenge, and he recognizes the same qualities in Watson.

A wave of puzzling deaths has left Scotland Yard detectives bewildered. Several seemingly happy people, for no apparent reason, decided to swallow cyanide capsules. Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves) is ruling the deaths suicides. As soon as he does, a text message appears on his cell phone: "Wrong."

Lestrade can bear the taunts because he knows how much the Yard needs Holmes' help. And Holmes is certain of one thing: These are not suicides.

And if you love a mystery, you'll find yourself being drawn into the exuberantly idiosyncratic world of "Sherlock." Around each London corner, Moffat and Gatiss display familiarity with the canon. Yet there's nothing elementary about their approach, which is as witty and playful as it is energetic.

Matching the sophistication of the writing and the performances are the innovative camera tricks. Moving at a lightning pace, "Sherlock" constantly is serving up delightful surprises for the eyes and ears.

How do you move Holmes to a new century? Here's a bloody good way to find out.

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